Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-01-24
MAKING A NEWSPAPER.
a GLANCE THROUGH THE sTER.
EOTYPING ROOMS.

from the Melting Pot Into M0ldi
Against Thin Sheets of Paper - Th,
Processes Which the Plates Have to
Undergo and the Tins 1t Takes Il
Stake Them.
The latest Improvement IN newspaper
/ printing is the process Of stereoty ping,
by which the paper is virtually printed
from new type every morning. While
! the system has been used in the large
Northern and Western cities for a mum
/ Der OF years il is something new in the
! South. The MORNING NEWS was the
! nrst newspaper south of Philadelphia
that stereotyped it's forms, and is to-day the
only one, eXcepting those in Baltimore anC
New Orleane, that has taken this advanced
step in newspaper making.
The type is ''set up' in the usual way
in the composing room in the sixth story
OF the MORNING NEWS building, and the
FORMS" as the types when put together
In pages are called, is sent down on the
! steam elevator to the stereOtyping room
| Here mould is made from the type form
TO be used on the Perfecting Press.
MoLDING THE PLATES.
1t is an interesting sight to watch the
| process Of making the stereotype plates
in the mOiding department. The metal
| which is used IN the plates Ia compost
| tlOil vi ltdAl, dulillOHN anu IlD, HUE
softer than type metal and easily fused.
IL is melted in a big caldron aud must not
be allowed TO get too hot or "the life will
! be burned out of it," as the men saw
When tits at a safe heat there is frost
| like scum floating on the TOP OF the sill
very liquid, but when iC is one brilliant,
mirror-llke sheet, it. Is peril0usly near
burning. The same metal can be used
over and over again, provided, of course,
10 nd , a1,
restored from time to time
A page of the paper, ''lOcked up'' in a
steel frame called the chase" is wheeled
in on a rolling table from the elevator.
Two brawny young fellows seize it
everything is done on the lump in the
stereotype room-slide 1t off on an iron
topped truck, which can be raised or
lowered, slap on matriX, and begin
beating it vigorously with couple of
long-haudled brushes, with short, stiff
bristles.
MAKING THE MATRIX.
The matrix is made OF sheets of a
kind OF paper manufactured especially
for this purpose and sheets Of
manila tissue paper. These sheets are
all pasted together with -four paste. II
Is damp when laid on the face OF the type,
and the vigorous blows from the brushes
drive the wet paper into every crevice of
tuO iOl III II 10 butn SOu6 over WIN
mallet to level it so that there will
not be any unevenness 10 print one
word black and leave the rest
without any impression at all. The
form with the matrlX or it is slid off on
an iron platen kept hot by steam
Blankets are laid on it, and press about
four times the size OF and exactly resem-
bling copying press ia squeezed down
ana the mOlsture from the wet type and
me r. ohspvhAd hv bn
Then TIE matrlX is dried evenly and
without bubbles. 1t then comes off the
form, is trimmed with a pair of shears
and If there is a little tear or burst place
it IS carefully mended with paste, colored
with oChre.
THE FURNACE.
Near the furnace, where the metal ia
seething, is half a cast-irOn cylinder, into
which is hinged another semI-cylinder.
there being say half an inch of space be-
tween the two when closed. This mold is
80 geared that it VIII stand no with its
t.as9t in a pan of water or lie horizontally.
Jobpaper matrix is hurriedly but care
haon n, bent into the outer cylinder, the
l,nsinoss " Under closed in on it, the catches
the whole business stood on end.
Juuse ".two4three automatic movement
" - % " ~, y men who make the plate
oH jan o. aeach one takes is co-ordInated
a
has made made.
Of his or city the same instant each grabs
sets S2,3a OF the double-handled ladle in
Mrs. helting-pOt, and in one time
Spartanhree motions they pour the
an acGy metal into the cylinder. The
'9rn5al fills up the mold of the paper ma
trIX and forms a solid seml-cylindrical
mold of what was ''set up" on a plane
surface.
IN THE MOLD.
One would think that the hot metal
would burn the paper matriX, but IL
doesn't. The heat given out by the cool
ing metal is not great enough to ignite
pasteboard. The inner surface of the
iron mold has square hollow compart-
meuts into which water is thrown to has
ten the cooling of the metal. 1t
is left to stay in the mold about
thirty seconds when the mold is
opened and the two men grab the plate
with pieces OF cloth like fiat iron-holders,
and buckle it on what is called the "trim.
mer," where the superiluOus metal Is
trimmed Oft. 1t is grabbed thence by
another man, who puts it on a cylindrical
stand called the finishing morse, where
all the burrs and unsightly lnmps OF
metal are planned or chIseled off. This
block Is the court OF last resort. II, at
the last minute, intelligence arrives
WHICH spOlIS SOlHS WOTu OF sentence In
head liue, the stereotyper chisels out the
offending expression.
FINISHING THE PLATES.
From there the plate goes into the shay.
ing machine which trims the plate down
to the proper thickness by scraping the
inside, which ia cast with grooves so that
the knife can take hold and pare 1t down.
1t is then dropped INTO a tub of water,
cooled, and then taken to the press-room
where it, with seven others like 1t, runs
of thousands of copies of the MORNING
NEWS Tor the clamoring newsboys.
II there Is no hard luck a plate can be
made in u minutes. The best time made
in TINS office was two casts in &
minutes. The average is about 10
minutes. If, however, one of the bits of
Old matrices pasted happens to come
loose and float down on the reading mat
ter. making what Is called IA sleeper"
the whole plate must be thrown aside
and another one cast.
The plates are delivered to the press.
man as fast as made. They are then
screwed in their proper places on the
cylinder. In a few minutes after the last
page or plare is done, the mammoth ma
chine is turning OFT the papers ready for
it's mails and the newsbOys.